Today we’ll see how we can get two benefits out of one exercise. We’re going to do some vocal warm ups while also getting to know the ukulele fretboard better at the same time. This exercise can be done over any scale or arpeggio, because we’re only using the ukulele as a guide for our starting note. Where we go from there vocally is up to us.

Born out of African-American work songs and spirituals, the blues hold a huge place in the history of music, and in the hearts of music lovers. The blues also sowed the seeds of jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, and so much more. Traditionally, a typical 12-bar blues follows a “call and response” pattern where a four bar ‘statement’ is repeated a second time for a middle four bar section, and this is followed by the final four bars which are the “response”.

Today we’ll look at one of my favourite exercises – the octave slide. This is another vocal exercise that we can do while getting to know the ukulele fretboard better. In the video above, I show you how to get started with it.